The present disclosure relates generally to information handling systems, and more particularly to providing supplemental passive cooling of information handling system components via an outer surface of the information handling system chassis.
As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
The desire to decrease the size of information handling systems while continuing to increase their performance results in a variety of issues. For example, information handling systems such as laptop/notebook computing devices, tablet computing devices, and/or other relatively thin computing devices known in the art typically include processors, memory devices, and/or other components that generate relatively high amounts of heat and require corresponding cooling. To provide such cooling, many computing devices implement heat pipes or vapor chambers as a transport mechanism to move heat from the heat-generating component to a heat dissipation device (e.g., a heat sink), along with a forced convection device (e.g., a fan, blower, etc.) that generates an airflow past the heat dissipation device to dissipate heat generated by the component, with such forced convection device/heat dissipation device combinations typically operating as the sole means for dissipating heat generated by the component. In addition, computing devices often limit the maximum outer surface temperatures that may be generated in order to ensure user comfort, which requires that the heat transport mechanisms be offset from the chassis walls to prevent direct heat transfer from the heat transport mechanism to the chassis wall that can cause the outer surface of the chassis from exceeding those maximum outer surface temperatures, and the implementation of such offsets increase the thickness of the system. Furthermore, the capabilities of processors and other components continue to be increased, resulting in higher and higher amounts of corresponding generated heat. For example, many new processors include the ability to function in “bursts” for short periods of time, which has been found to be capable of generating heat that can exceed the ability of the forced convection device/heat dissipation device combination, and requires that the burst functionality of the processor be throttle or even disabled in some systems.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide an improved cooling system.